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Searching for the hottest global startups of 2013, we sifted through more than 300 entries, looking at nominations submitted by founders, investors and FORBES writers. The seven companies chosen in conjunction with comments from our judges were either founded or first gained significant traction in the last 12 months; every single one is an innovative business shaking up its sector’s norms around the world.

In compiling the global list, I faced a very different set of challenges from the U.S. roster. Though some trends indicate it is happening less and less, many international startups move to the U.S. to seek funding or mentorship, negating their global status. It seems globally, consolidation happens faster - many startups get acquired very young, swallowed by large conglomerates or Western operators looking to muscle in on regional activity.

Absent from the list are copycat startups - "Mexico's Uber" or "Egypt's Amazon." These companies are often highly successful and innovative in their own ways, but we chose to focus on new ideas which uniquely address issues present in their home countries. This meant Tictail, a plucky Swedish competitor to Shopify which is already hosting 10,000 online stores just 10 months after launch, didn't make the cut.

Discarded for their size and age were fast-growing transport companies Hailo and BlaBlaCar. Another also-ran was Graze, whose subscription-based healthy snack delivery is making a push in the U.S.

Among the startups on the list is Berlin's EyeEm, which saw a 900% increase in users from 1 million to 10 million this year. It has also got exciting plans to monetize through the EyeEm Marketplace of licensed images.

Wearable tech remains a big trend, with Canadian Thalmic Labs leading the charge. Its Myo armband measures electrical pulses in your muscles to wirelessly control devices from computers to phones and other electronics. All you have to do is move your forearm and hand. With $14.5 million in funding, plenty of techies are excited by the hardware; Thalmic Labs has racked up 25,000 preorders.

Near misses included Teddy The Guardian, a bear created by Josipa Majic and Ana Buric that reads the vital signs of the child hugging it, and send details to an app viewable by parents and doctors.

Social recommendations and mobile commerce is a hot ticket right now - so hot that the last-minute ticketing app YPlan is on one in five smartphones in London. Like Sosh, it lets you browse upcoming events, but users can also buy tickets in-app. After just a few months in New York, the app is seeing 500,000 regular users between the two cities and has aggressive plans to expand.

Missing from the list is a startup from Africa, but not for want of trying - we considered but dismissed music streaming services like Spinlet and profiled African entrepreneurs in a previous Up-And-Comers section of Forbes Magazine - yet could not settle on a suitable candidate. As a continent, Asia is underrepresented, despite nominations for a green Hong Kong plastic bag initiative and a Bangladeshi healthcare app. Looking towards next year's list, we hope to better source picks from these regions.